Engineer’s office plans to repair more roads in 2014

Coshocton County Road 6 in Jackson Township has severe cracks, potholes, and areas where the shoulder is giving way. It is due to be repaved in 2014. Coshocton County Engineers office plans to repair more county roads in 2014, totaling more than $1 million. The County Road 6 project in Jackson Township is the most expensive, costing $301,000.(Photo: Julie Ames/Tribune, Julie Ames/Tribune)Buy Photo

COSHOCTON – In the coming year the Coshocton County Engineer’s Office plans to spend more than $1 million on road improvements.

Engineer Fred Wachtel said the $1,044,000 funding the road projects would come from the engineer’s office funds and a pending Ohio Public Works Commission grant money. About $900,000 for the repairs would come from the office’s gas tax budget and the remainder from OPWC grants.

In total, the projects would account for 18.14 miles of road, 5.2 percent of the 352 total road miles in the county.

The office collected about $3.9 million in revenue in 2013, which remains the same as 2012. About 50 percent of the budget comes from the gas tax. Wachtel isn’t worried about receiving the funding, as the office has already completed the initial process and has typically been awarded dollars in the past.

The challenge for Wachtel is not being able to do more.

“We always have more to do, but you run out of money to do everything you want to do,” Wachtel said.

This year, the office will be spending more money to repair roads after the harsh winter, so there’s a chance one of the projects might not happen.

Road projects would include resurfacing projects on County Roads 1A, 5, 6, 20, 51, 97, 207 and 227, along with miscellaneous projects.

The most expensive project would be the County Road 6 project in Jackson Township, which would cost $301,000. Without OPWC funds, the project won’t be possible.

Two of the projects, County Roads 5 and 97, have already been bid out, and work is expected to being in the spring. Work on the other projects wouldn’t begin until sometime in August, as funds from OPWC grants wouldn’t be received until after July 1.

Ideally, asphalt roads need to be resurfaced every eight to 10 years. Of the more than 380 miles the county engineer’s office maintains, 280 to 290 miles are asphalt, which means about 28 miles should be resurfaced each year if they are on the 10-year cycle.

“We can’t get close to doing the 28 to 29 miles in any way, shape or form,” Wachtel said. “We’re not able to do as much as we should to maintain the industry standards.”

So far, there haven’t been any formal discussions about pursuing a road levy to help increase funds for the engineer’s office. To determine which roads make the list, a number of factors are considered.

“We look at the condition, traffic flow, where the road is, what it’s used for. There’s no hard and fast formula, but we try to look at what will have the most impact,” Wachtel said. “For example, County Road 1A — that road is not in bad condition compared to some other roads that didn’t make the list, but it gets more traffic than some and is a pretty critical road people travel.”

Improvements to about 13 miles of road cost $803,195 in 2013. Last year, 215 roads were listed in good condition, 39 in excellent condition, 80 in fair condition and 18 in poor conditions. The number of good roads increased by 40, and excellent decreased by 19 roads.

“In my mind, critical means the road is impassible, which we don’t have any of those,” Wachtel said. “But we do have some roads where there are deteriorated areas that we are maintaining as gravel.”

Pending bridge projects from the OPWC Round 27 funding are three bridges to be built in Adams, Newcastle and Washington townships. There are an additional four OPWC bridge projects and then two federally funded bridge replacements, one in White Eyes and one in Bedford Township.

For the bridges, Wachtel said his office has applied for $170,000 in OPWC funds. The total project cost would be $330,000, with the rest coming from the engineer’s office budget.

The two federally funded replacements include Ohio Department of Transportation project for the Township Road 90 Bridge 1 in White Eyes Township, which was chosen by the state. The other project is the County Road 17, Bridge 7 project in Bedford Township, which is 80 percent funded by ODOT with a 20 percent local funding component.

Of the bridges, 108 are deemed excellent, 95 good, 59 fair, and 14 poor. The number of poor bridges decreased by 15 from 2012, and excellent bridges increased by three from 2012.

The engineer’s office maintains 290 miles of paved roads, 60 miles of gravel roads, 276 bridges and 2,493 culverts.

Other updates from the Engineer’s Office

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Two large purchases were made in 2013. One was a $114,466 Komatsu Hydraulic Excavator and a $59,052 Caterpillar Hydraulic H210E Hammer. Another $11,000 was spent rebuilding the undercarriage of a bulldozer. The office sold one of the traditional rubber backhoes to Warsaw for $11,000.

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There were two reportable accidents in 2013; both were minor, and both employees have returned to their full duties.

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Total OSHA hours worked in 2013 by engineering personnel were 43,499, slightly down from 2012, when more than 45,500 hours were worked.

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Eight new water and three new sewer customers were added to the county utilities department.

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At the start of the 2013-14 winter season, the office had 400 tons of salt in its bins.

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No significant building improvements were done, but the office began to install solar panels to reduce its electric bill and be more “green.” Engineer Fred Wachtel estimates the cost would be about $300,000, and the office wouldn’t see payback returns for about 20 years.